Roku registers first in-house lobbyist

From: POLITICO Influence - Wednesday Aug 03,2022 09:47 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

With Megan Wilson and Daniel Lippman

ROKU REGISTERS AN IN-HOUSE LOBBYIST: The streaming platform Roku has registered its first in-house lobbyist, according to disclosures filed this week. Gail Slater , who joined the company in February from Fox Corp., and is a former FTC attorney and a Trump White House alum, will lobby on privacy and antitrust bills and monitor potential copyright legislation.

— Roku already retains two outside firms — Tiber Creek Group and The Petrizzo Group — to whom it’s paid $220,000 in total so far this year. The company has steadily been building out its presence in Washington after hiring its first lobbyists in 2017 to lobby on net neutrality. Roku has come out in support of Senate legislation aimed at reining in larger tech companies like Google and Amazon, though the bill has appeared to stall out in recent weeks amid fierce lobbying from the tech leviathans.

— A dispute between Roku and Google in particular last year even caught the eye of top antitrust hawks on the Hill , with Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) pointing to the companies’ contract dispute over carriage of YouTube TV as grounds to enact antitrust legislation.

3M HIRES WILMERHALE: Manufacturing conglomerate 3M meanwhile has added another outside lobbying firm to its roster. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s Rob Lehman, a former chief of staff to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Brian Skretny, former Rep. Eliot Engel’s (D-N.Y.) legislative director, will lobby on chemical regulations for the company.

— 3M has been named in several state lawsuits in recent months over “forever” chemicals in their products that pose environmental risks. The company reported spending $850,000 on lobbying last quarter, and also retains theGROUP DC, Marshall & Popp, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz/The Daschle Group, Confluence Government Relations, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, Becker & Poliakoff and the independent lobbyist Gregory Cohen, according to disclosure filings.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips and musings: coprysko@politico.com . And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko .

 

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AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY LOBBYIST MOVES TO BCBS: Illy Jaffer will be joining the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association next week to serve as its managing director of federal government relations. She comes from serving in the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network's lobby shop.

— Jaffer's resume also includes doing advance work for the Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns. On Capitol Hill, she previously worked as deputy chief of staff to Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).

NEWS FACEBOOK AD NERDS CAN USE: “Get ready for Facebook versus the researchers: Round 2,” POLITICO’s Mark Scott writes. “With just over four months to go before midterm elections, academics at New York University are gearing up for another battle with Facebook over how to track digital ads after their first attempt got them banned from the company’s ad database after the 2020 presidential election.”

— “On Wednesday, the NYU researchers launched a searchable database of Facebook digital political ads they’ve managed to pull together despite the ban, putting them right back in the company’s crosshairs.”

— “Meta, Facebook’s parent company, stripped Edelson and two NYU colleagues of their access to its own database of political ads just weeks before Joe Biden’s presidential victory two years ago. The company accused them of breaking its terms of service on privacy by creating a browser extension that enabled users to provide the researchers with granular information on the types of ads appearing in their news feed. Meta also threatened to sue the researchers, who argued their work didn’t violate the company’s policies.”

— “The conflict highlights how little has been resolved over how online political ads should be tracked and how outside groups can be allowed to keep tabs on digital advertising spend that is estimated to hit $1.3 billion during the midterm election cycle. That’s playing out in the build-up to November’s election — an early warning sign ahead of the flood of digital campaigning already starting ahead of the 2024 presidential election.”

FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL PRIMARY TURNS FROSTY: “Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) is taking a pause from his usual campaign stance as a ‘happy warrior,’” POLITICO’s Gary Fineout reports, a pivot that includes a new mailer taking aim at Democratic rival Nikki Fried’s past occupation as a lobbyist in the state, calling her a “Republican lobbyist for big tobacco and insurance companies.”

— Before becoming the state’s agriculture commissioner in 2018, Fried “was a lobbyist and primarily represented companies involved in the state’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry,” Gary notes, a resume item that has already caused controversy for the gubernatorial hopeful. She “also represented other companies at one point, including a Florida tobacco company and insurance trade groups.”

EV STARTUPS PROTEST TAX CREDITS IN RECONCILIATION BILL: “Electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive Inc. is warning that planned revisions to the EV tax credit would put the young car maker at a disadvantage to more-established competitors,” The Wall Street Journal’s Sean McLain reports.

— “If it passes in its current form, the new legislation would extend the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs but add new restrictions that Rivian said would make most of its vehicles ineligible for the incentive program. Rivian, in a statement, said the legislation as currently drafted would pull the rug out from consumers considering a switch to EVs. The California-based startup is calling for a longer transition to the new incentive program.”

— “The company, in particular, takes issue with a planned cap that would make any electric trucks, SUVs and vans selling for more than $80,000 ineligible for the federal subsidy. It also opposes the proposed income restrictions. Buyers with household incomes of $150,000 or higher—$300,000 for married couples—wouldn’t qualify for the credit on new EV purchases.”

— “‘The whole point of an incentive is to mainstream a new technology,’ said Jim Chen , Rivian’s vice president of public policy. ‘With any technology you start with a higher price point.’” While some Rivian models start below $80,000, “‘it doesn’t take much to push our vehicles over the cap,’ Mr. Chen said. Most of Rivian’s vehicles sell for above $80,000, he said.”

— “Rival EV startup Fisker Inc. also criticized the new qualifying requirements, saying they would stifle widespread EV adoption and unfairly favor a few companies.”

ILLEGAL LOBBYING CHARGES UNLIKELY FOR GIULIANI: “As Rudolph W. Giuliani comes under intensifying scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, another legal threat is quietly fading : the criminal inquiry into his ties to Ukraine during the presidential campaign,” The New York Times’ William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess report.

— “The investigation, conducted by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the F.B.I., has examined whether Mr. Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials who helped him impugn Joseph R. Biden Jr., then expected to be the Democratic presidential nominee.” But nearly three years later, that probe “is unlikely to result in charges, two people with knowledge of the matter said.”

— “While prosecutors had enough evidence last year to persuade a judge to order the seizure of Mr. Giuliani’s electronic devices, they did not uncover a smoking gun in the records, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a federal investigation. The prosecutors have not closed the investigation, and if new evidence were to emerge, they could still pursue Mr. Giuliani.”

Jobs Report

Jen Farber is now a senior vice president at Precision Strategies. She previously was a managing director at Firehouse Strategies.

Guillermo Christensen is joining K&L Gates as a partner in the antitrust, competition, and trade regulation practice. He previously was D.C. office managing partner at Ice Miller LLP, and is a CIA alum.

Christopher Gaspar is now director for government relations at BAE Systems. He most recently was director for legislative affairs at Textron.

Jennifer Esparza is now White House liaison to the VA. She most recently was director of legal affairs at Veterans Education Success.

Kathy Hollinger will be the next CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership. She’s currently the president and CEO of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington.

Sam Mannetti has joined the Creative Coalition as program manager. He previously worked for Stage 32, Disney+ and Endeavor.

Luke Peterson is now head of data & analytics at Golin. He previously was deputy assistant secretary leading research and analytics for global public affairs at the State Department.

Jean Toal Eisen is joining the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy as vice president for corporate strategy. She previously was the staff director/clerk for the Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee.

David McGonigal is now communications and media manager to the CEO of the One Campaign. He previously was comms director for Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.).

Deborah Telman is joining Gilead Sciences as executive vice president for corporate affairs and general counsel. She most recently served as the Organon’s legal adviser and was responsible for legal affairs, ethics and compliance, and global environmental health and safety.

New Joint Fundraisers

Frontline Nine (Reps. Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin, Chrissy Houlahan, Elaine Luria, Cindy Axne, Matt Cartwright, Jared Golden, Andy Kim)
Paul Junge Victory Fund (Paul Junge for Congress, Better Michigan Fund, NRCC)
Sam Peters Victory Fund (Committee to Elect Sam Peters, Securing Americas Might SAM PAC, NRCC)
Warnock Gillibrand Victory Fund (Sens. Raphael Warnock, Kirsten Gillibrand)

New PACs

ALL AMERICAN PAC (Leadership PAC: Keith Self)
ENERGIZE OUR FUTURE (Super PAC)
MAGA.com, Inc (Super PAC)
Women Against Matt Gaetz (Super PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Carpi & Clay, Inc: Inland Empire Utilities Agency
Dla Piper LLP (US): Sparc Group Holdings Ii LLC
Gtb Partners: Occidental Petroleum Corporation
Liebman & Associates, Inc.: Renewco2, Inc.
Nvg, LLC: Pexeso, Inc.
Passage Consulting Group LLC: Fuse Integration, Inc.
Passage Consulting Group LLC: Neology, Inc.
Strathmore Health Strategy: The Pew Charitable Trusts
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Dba Taft Advisors LLC Fka (Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP): Eagle Forge Services Company, LLC
Van Scoyoc Associates: American Heart Association

New Lobbying Terminations

Hollier & Associates: Vorpal LLC
Rissing Strategic LLC: Entergy Corporartion
Rissing Strategic LLC: Txu Energy
The Summerill Group LLC: Blount County Sheriff'S Office
The Summerill Group LLC: St. Genevieve County Sheriff'S Office
The Summerill Law Firm: Major County Sheriffs Of America
The Summerill Law Firm: Obion County Sheriff'S Office
The Summerill Law Firm: St. Joseph County Police Department

 

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